Abell 35

[Shiraz]

Hi

this thing is dim - eg, lots of (narrowband) galaxies shining through it :).
http://astrob.in/295151/0/

There is continuing discussion on just what it is. I assumed that it is a Stromgren sphere and not a PN, so left the internal detail ~as smooth as it appeared in the initial stacks, rather than try to make it look like the shock stuctures found in typical PNs. Also concentrated solely on SNR - all available data was used, including some with poor FWHM - and no deconvolution was applied, so stars are a bit ropey (especially stretched this much)

The bow wave from the motion of the central binary star pair through the interstellar medium is intriguing, as are the two linear features (not much agreement on what caused them). In any event, this was a very satisfying object to image and read about. Thanks for looking. regards Ray

edit: FWIW, the Ha signal in the dimmest outer regions amounted to around 1-2 photon/10 minute sub

[DJScotty]

That's a great image ray.
The next thing I need to work on are stars.
The settings you used for your stars appear to produce good results.
Might have to emulate your efforts.
Again great image
Scott

[plantnerd]

A stunning thing and a lovely image whatever gas blob it is

[RickS]

Great image, Ray, and clearly an incredibly challenging object :thumbsup: Have you seen Don Goldman's image?

Cheers,
Rick.

[Atmos]

Hell a lot of galaxies popping through the Ha channel there Ray, nice! Doesn't look that faint so it's well processed.

[Spookyer]

Very nice, great patience in collecting the data.

[Shiraz]

thanks Scott. stars are a bit of a work in progress I am afraid - in this case, the big problem was that the RGB had no colour info for the NB halos - not normally a problem , but this data has been stretched enough to show them clearly and they ended up an odd lilac colour. Toned them down a bit, but they are still a little odd. And I still haven't figured out a really reliable way to overlay the star colour from RGB. Am currently using Lab mapping to transfer the colour through a star mask, but haven't quite nailed the blending yet. Hope I can work it out before the old brain gives up altogether:lol:


thanks Luis -yes, I guess that it really doesn't matter what it is.


thanks Rick. yep, used Don's image as well as the Capella image and one from Adam Lundie as references when trying to work out the best processing approach.


Thanks Colin. the galaxies surprised, but this image is getting down into the weeds, so I guess there should be the odd galactic photon getting through the filters.


thanks Brett. yep, took a while, but what else is there to do when the moon is up.

[topheart]

Well done Ray!!
I had a go at this a little while ago and took a few subs as a test with the 0.5M cassegrain and the PL16803 and saw almost nil signal and gave up on it and moved on to an easier target!!

Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Lovely result Ray on a raaather faint target..and compares quite favourably with the versions from the 20" and 24" scopes :thumbsup: It's shape and what look like corrugated ridges, reminds me of a potato chip :face:...a blue and red one...the bow shock is rather interesting huh?

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Wimp! :D

[markas]

Terrific result from a very tough target!

Mark

[glend]

Great work Ray. Ten minute subs at gain 200, show just how dim it is.:thumbsup:

[Camelopardalis]

Epic Ray :thumbsup: I can hardly imagine how faint that is...but looks like the 1600 isn't doing too badly in the Master's hands :D

[Shiraz]

thanks Tim. it was fairly faint in the subs - like almost not there.


thanks Mike - guess that it does look like a potato crisp. darn, now I feel a craving for salt and vinegar..or maybe BBQ.


thanks Mark!


thanks Glen. there was very little to see on the subs - about a photoelectron/pix/sub in the dim bits.


very generous there Dunk - thanks
dunno about the Master bit, but at least the 1600 seems to be working really well :lol:

regards Ray

[gregbradley]

Really well done.

A very ghostly look.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Awesome. Both being able to capture such a low flux, and the resulting image.

Had to look up what a Stromgren sphere was.

[Paul Haese]

Crazy coincidence. I am doing the exact target and on my forth night of imaging (but only two nights are of any use).

This is really nice and compares well with Don Goldman's image. Nice colour to the nebula. I hope mine will be similar, though I know I'll need a lot more exposure.

[cometcatcher]

Nice image Ray! I wouldn't mind a crack at it with a modified DSLR. I know Justin has it with a normal camera but it needs dark skies.

[Shiraz]

thanks Greg - I guess that ghostly is appropriate for something so faint.

thanks M&T. I hadn't heard of Stromgren spheres either - interesting type of object though and quite different mechanism to a normal PN.


Thanks very much Paul. Will be very interested to see what you find with long exposure. If it is a true PN, there could be outer shells, but I doubt that a Stromgren spere will show any.


Thanks Kevin. be nice thing to try with a DSLR. there certainly isn't much there, but Justin showed that it can be done.

regards Ray

[Stevec35]

Excellent Ray. Yet another in the "I wish I had taken that category".

Cheers

Steve